News

Skeleton Technologies Raises €3.9 Million for Ultracaps

August 10, 2014 by Jeff Shepard

Skeleton Technologies GmbH has completed Round A financing of €3.9 million (US$5.4 million). The financing will be used for production scale-up and product development in addition to sales and marketing efforts. The total Round A financing, led by Estonian venture capital investor UP Invest AS, includes the first financing tranche of €2.2 million announced in April 2013. Skeleton Technologies' product family ranges from ultracapacitors for burst power needs with short application times to high energy density devices for longer application times. All devices feature very low ESR for higher efficiency and are manufactured in the EU.

“Our products have four times higher power density (80 kW/L), and almost double the energy density (14 Wh/L) compared to current industry standards,” says Skeleton Technologies CEO Mr Taavi Madiberk. “We enable our customers to excel in energy efficiency and electrical performance.” This high performance has sparked the interest of a variety of customers – the company’s customer list already includes the European Space Agency (ESA) and several automotive Tier 1 suppliers.

In a market dominated by US and East Asian competitors such as Maxwell Technologies and Nippon Chemi-Con, Skeleton Technologies plans to focus sales and marketing efforts on the European market with an emphasis on Germany.

“We are already the largest ultracapacitor manufacturer in Europe,” explains Mr Madiberk “and this financing round will enable Skeleton Technologies GmbH to follow through with plans to build ultracapacitor manufacturing plants in Bautzen and Radeburg in Saxony, Germany. The total planned investment will be €13.6 million, supported by the Saxonian Development Bank.”

Skeleton Technologies’ COO Mr Oliver Ahlberg adds: “By having the highest automation levels and being the manufacturing yield leader in the industry, Skeleton Technologies will gain the upper-hand over competitors with labor-intensive assembly processes, even if those are being carried out in developing countries.”

UP Invest AS Managing Director Mr Kristjan Vilosius comments that with a market-proven product and strong customer traction, Skeleton Technologies is well-suited for value creation in a sector that, according to leading industry analysts, will experience 30% YOY growth over the next 10 years, creating a US$6 billion market sector by 2024.